This is George W Bush, the President of the United States. At this moment,
the regime of Saddam Hussein is being removed from power, and a long era of
fear and cruelty is ending. American and coalition forces are now operating
inside Baghdad – and we will not stop until Saddam’s corrupt gang
is gone. The government of Iraq, and the future of your country, will soon
belong to you.

The goals of our coalition are clear and limited. We will end a brutal regime,
whose aggression and weapons of mass destruction make it a unique threat
to the world. Coalition forces will help maintain law and order, so that
Iraqis can live in security. We will respect your great religious traditions,
whose principles of equality and compassion are essential to Iraq’s
future. We will help you build a peaceful and representative government that
protects the rights of all citizens. And then our military forces will leave.
Iraq will go forward as a unified, independent and sovereign nation that
has regained a respected place in the world.

The United States and its coalition partners respect the people of Iraq.
We are taking unprecedented measures to spare the lives of innocent Iraqi
citizens, and are beginning to deliver food, water and medicine to those
in need. Our only enemy is Saddam’s brutal regime – and that
regime is your enemy as well.

In the new era that is coming to Iraq, your country will no longer be held
captive to the will of a cruel dictator. You will be free to build a better
life, instead of building more palaces for Saddam and his sons, free to pursue
economic prosperity without the hardship of economic sanctions, free to travel
and speak your mind, free to join in the political affairs of Iraq. And all
the people who make up your country – Kurds, Shi’a, Turkomans,
Sunnis, and others – will be free of the terrible persecution that
so many have endured.

The nightmare that Saddam Hussein has brought to your nation will soon be
over. You are a good and gifted people – the heirs of a great civilisation
that contributes to all humanity. You deserve better than tyranny and corruption
and torture chambers. You deserve to live as free people. And I assure every
citizen of Iraq: your nation will soon be free.